Chronicles - Congregation of the Resurrection, Priests, Brothers ...

The Chronicles
The Dream of
BROTHER
Brother Bogdan was born Theodore Ignatius
Bogdan Janski in 1807. In the years before and
during Theodore’s childhood, Poland was
annexed, freed, and annexed again. It was one
of the darkest moments in his country’s history.
These changes had a profound effect on Polish
citizens, especially the youth.
His father and mother separated when he was in elementary
school and Theodore – as he was known during his youth –
grew up under the influence of religious teachers who taught
him to seek God and strive for holiness. His teachers recognized
that he was smart and imaginative, and they made it possible
for him stay in school and move on to the University of Warsaw.
His mother wrote her son a letter before he left for
Warsaw, which he kept in his diary: “My Dear Theodore, do
not get into bad company; avoid those who would lead you into
worldly and bad habits. Look for companions who have a good
reputation…” He was fifteen years old.
At the University, Theodore got his first taste of the secular
world and soon rejected Christianity for materialism. Despite
his mother’s warning, he became friends with a classmate who
introduced him to drinking, parties and brothels.
Theodore often met his friends for bouts of drinking
and sex in the tombs beneath the floor level of the Carmelite
Church in Warsaw. During one meeting, Theodore poured
a drink into a human skull and served up a toast from it.
Lifting his gruesome cup he cursed death and laughed at
the thought of eternal life. Life was to be lived now and the
fullness of pleasure was found only in the thrills of sensuality.
Just before he left his hometown for further studies in Paris,
he impulsively married a pregnant girlfriend named Alexandra.
The son born to Theodore and Alexandra was not Theodore’s
but he had married her to save her from embarrassment.
Later, he would claim that a woman has deprived him of
greatness. Yet, his real problem was his inability to reign in
his emotions and impulses plus his lack of moral standards.
In Paris, Theodore found a group of Polish refugees. Like
him, they were poor, wild, and unable to deal with the political
turmoil in their homeland. Now twenty, Theodore began to
call himself “Bogdan,” his less formal middle name.
With his new name, things began to change for Bogdan,
but very slowly. His new comrades were just as unruly and
unrestrained as his old. But, now he made a living translating
works from Polish to French, writing articles and tutoring
high school students. Bogdan was maturing.
From time to time, he thought of Alexandra. He wrote her
letters and, when he had it, sent her money but the threat of
war kept Alexandra and Bogdan apart. He would never see her
again, and he would never meet their son.
Poland’s great Romantic poet, Adam Mickiewicz, was one
of the political refugees in Paris. His home had become a
gathering place for young men like Bogdan. The poet was a
strong believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and attended
Mass regularly. Under Mickiewicz’s influence, Bogdan began
to wonder if he could find God’s grace once again.
After many years of avoiding Mass, he found himself
wandering into churches to pray, though still drinking and
roaming the nighttime streets of Paris. His diary recounts a
daily struggle between sin and God’s grace: “Merciful God,
support me with your grace. Complete within me this work of
salvation, of reconciliation with you…In you, O God, is all
my hope.”
Soon he formed a study group of like-minded individuals.
Young men, mostly, they went to Mass each Friday and then
gathered to study sacred scripture at the house of Mickiewicz.
Eager to apply the biblical message of salvation to their
circumstances, they asked: What would happen if we began
living like true disciples of Jesus Is a regeneration of society
based on Christian principles even possible
In Acts 4:32 they found hope: “The whole body of believers
was united in heart and soul…everything was held in common,
while the apostles bore witness with great power to the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” A Christian social revolution
might be possible, Bogdan thought. Society could be reborn
but this time formed by the Gospel. The dream of Bogdan
Janski began to take shape.
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